The Club at Uttora is being developed to become a new destination for the city of Siliguri. In recent years, the city has seen rapid urbanization with the expansion of new areas. Uttora – the new integrated township – is situated less than 6km away, on the way to the Bagdogra airport and easily approached from National Highway 31. Uttora will provide the residents with an integrated set of facilities and a new lifestyle. As part of this vision, the Club seeks to establish an image of this township in the public paradigm.
Places of congregation and celebration, addas for discussion, or centres of recreation are strongly rooted in local traditions of Bengal. These locales are available to all and draw in all sections of society into a community dialogue. The Club has been designed to portray this living tradition. Various activities have been grouped together to form centres or nodes placed in an active landscape which strings together the built and open environments into one structure.
The Club provides a centre for banqueting or conferencing with attached large open areas for large scale gatherings, recreational facilities like lounges, restaurants and bars to meet and entertain guests and friends, tastefully designed guest rooms for business and holiday travellers, and health and sports facilities like a well-equipped gym, spa, squash courts, tennis courts, basketball court and swimming pool. Apart from these, there is a children’s lounge with indoor games area and other indoor activity areas like cards room, snooker etc. In effect – something for all age groups and interests.
The design of the complex responds to the local conditions of climate, topography and culture. Planned as a green edge that endows the city with a green character, the built form is spread through the curvilinear site, in the form of a few blocks that are designed as buildings within a garden, where the landscape integrates with the built form. It provides for ample solar shading and rain protection – pre-requisites for climate responsive design in the region. Given the warm humid climatic conditions, the buildings must allow for shading of openings and adequate cross-ventilation which is achieved by the concept of an environment shell enveloping the structures. This envelope provides both solar and rain protection while allowing for maximum ventilation. This also sets up the tone for a unified visual language which helps to create a visual landmark when viewed from the outside.
This language is picked up and also applied to the landscape through a means of a connecting trellis and walkway which collects all the public
functions of the township and strings them together allowing for an interface between the township and the rest of the city.
The Club extends Uttora’s commitment to environmentally responsible design through careful design of the buildings and site planning. A large reservoir is dedicated to rain-water harvesting that collects rain-water and store for re-use. The waste from the Club is to be treated and available for re-use within the complex. All waste water will be treated and re-used for gardening and flushing. Energy consumption is optimized through use of solar energy for generating hot water and electricity for outdoor lighting.A rain water harvesting pond is placed strategically in order to save water and minimise wastage. Through this, the club sets a precedent for an environment-friendly intent and towards a contribution to the community.